Teen arrested after robbery tied to medical cannabis buy

A Berkeley teenager is facing two felony counts after authorities say he robbed a 31-year-old Davis woman during a drug deal in Berkeley involving medical cannabis.

Jerrone Horn, 19, was arrested Dec. 5 in the 1300 block of Delaware Street after police tied him to the crime using a telephone number.

According to court documents, on Nov. 16, a victim reported being robbed by people with a gun at Allston Way and Bonar Street shortly before 7 p.m. The suspects had responded to a Craigslist advertisement related to the sale of medical cannabis.

The victims — a man and woman — initially reported the loss as an iPhone because they were afraid of getting in trouble for selling marijuana, authorities said in court papers, “but felt obligated to report the fact that the suspects were robbing people with guns.”

One of the suspects had provided a telephone number while setting up the transaction, and police linked that number to Horn, who was identified by one of the victims in a photo line-up as the robber without the gun.

At Horn’s home, police said they found a letterman-style jacket that had been described by the victim as worn by one of the robbers, the cellphone used to arrange the deal, and an unregistered, loaded .380-caliber pistol, police said.

It was Horn, said police, who disputed the victims’ report that an iPhone had been stolen: “Horn stated he and his friend were responded (sic) to an ad on Craigslist selling prop 215 marijuana.”

According to court papers, Horn admitted to stealing the marijuana and running off without paying, but said the gun, which had been used by his friend, had been a surprise to him.

Berkeley Police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Coats said Horn had been discussing the transaction with the victims when he snatched the marijuana and started to run. A second man then appeared with a gun and told the victims to leave the area. The robbers fled the scene through Strawberry Creek Park.

Horn has been charged with second-degree robbery and unlawful firearm activity, according to the Alameda County district attorney’s office. He had been forbidden from possessing firearms due to a juvenile case related to battery with serious bodily injury.

Horn is being held with a bail of $100,000 at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Thursday in Department 115 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland.

The police department should be providing a new annual report early next year.

curiousjorge

I have to say that I find the ratio of crime stories to non-crime stories a bit perplexing. It feels as though every week we see several stories about robberies, but we’re lucky if we read an article about more than one of the decisions city council made at a given meeting. Some meetings don’t get coverage at all. Perhaps the crime stories are by far the most popular, but they are not necessarily the most consequential.

It’s not like Berkeleyside plans to have a certain number of crime stories each week and fills that quota. We have one standing crime-related feature – our crime blotter – and that runs on Monday. We write other crime stories as they break and develop.

So far this week we have run 11 non-crime related stories and 6 crime stories. We do cover every city council meeting and a lot of other meetings. Sometimes it just takes time to write them up. In the past few weeks we wrote about the city council decision to create a new student-oriented district, the new smoking laws, the plans for a new high rise, the plans for a new garage on Center Street, and the restaurant pending before ZAB. Our reporter was at the Parks bond meeting last night and we will have a story soon. So it may feel like there is more crime than city coverage, but that is not the case.

It’s true that there have been numerous crime stories this week, because a lot of note has been happening. But last week there were only two stories. We are very selective about the crime stories we pursue.

serkes

I probably notice the crime stories (I sure miss Dennis Farnia) more than the other stories.

Ira

Truth Sayer

Also, the robbers did not steal the iPhone as reported, as that number was used to call the sellers.

Doug F

Provided his phone number in advance to the victims… It’s a good thing most hoods are so dumb; it makes them easy to catch.

emraguso

Come again?

Truth Sayer

The two marijuana sellers initially reported that the robbers stole their iPhone. However, as it was stated in the report “One of the suspects had provided a telephone number while setting up the transaction, and police linked that number to Horn, who was identified by one of the victims in a photo line-up as the robber without the gun.” Simply put, in addition to selling marijuana illegally, they made a false report to the police that their iPhone was stollen.

Truth Sayer

There is a lot more crime in Berkeley. The FBI Annual report proves its.

guest

Speaking of illegal drug sales, why is 40 Acres still open?

Hold The Maio

Because our representative on the City Council, Linda Maio, is completely ineffectual and is more interested in not rocking the boat and pandering for votes than she is in actually effecting change that will improve our district.

In short, she lives so far away from where 40 Acres is blighting the neighborhood that she just doesn’t care.